Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Sock Rehemming

One of the first real pairs of socks I ever made was a pair out of Collinette Jitterbug. The yarn cost $21.00, which was a huge amount of money for sock yarn then. It still is, but it is commonplace to pay that much and more nowadays for premium and hand-dyed yarn. So I've had these socks from whenever that was. I'd guess 2005 or 2006. Even though they are 100% wool, they've worn like iron. I used to put them in the dryer, but for a couple of years now, I haven't purposely put any of my handknits in the dryer except for a cotton/wool pair I have. Despite not putting them into the dryer, and despite them being superwash wool, they finally started to felt. I find this happens eventually to superwash when it has been washed a lot.

Being as these were early socks, the bind off of the cuff (these are toe-up) was unyielding and a little tight to begin with. My skills have improved since then, so that my sock tops are quite forgiving and elastic now. The tight bind off combined with the felting made these babies almost impossible to get on without tearing the edge.
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The old bind off has been partially removed.

I found some of the leftovers of the original yarn and rebound them. The hardest part was unraveling / unthatching / picking out the old bind off. It took almost an hour for both socks.

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Reclaimed Bind-Off Yarn

Close Up of the New Bind-Off

Once I got that out, I worked three rows in the original ribbing pattern and bound off with Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off The link goes to Cat Bordhi's YouTube demonstration, but I looked up Jeny Stairman's YouTube page and Jeny had it there.
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Done

The new bind off is wonderfully flexible and accomodating. I can't wait to wear these again as soon as I put them in the wash. Though the weather might actually be

Quotacious

QUOTES
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Those of us in authority should be doing everything we can to encourage the better angels of our - nature as opposed to using these episodes to heighten divisions. ~Barack Obama ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Counting is the hardest part of knitting.~Me
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No corkscrew-bring champagne~Ann
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Just because it's brown doesn't mean it's chocolate. ~Sue
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When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and waving a cross. ~Sinclair Lewis (probably) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are many paths to the
Goodwill. We may never really know the why of it all. ~Elizabeth M.
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What is there to eat around here? ~Me